Pink Freud, the fictional band in The Death of Dick Long, consists of Dick, Zeke, and Earl – three Alabama rednecks who stumble their way through covers of songs like Staind’s 2001 hit “It’s Been Awhile.” One night after band practice, Dick poses a fateful question to his pals: “Ya’ll motherfuckers wanna get weird?”

After a late-night montage of shotgunning beers, blasting cans with shotguns, and launching fireworks from between their legs, there’s a hard cut to a few hours later, when Dick has been horrifically injured. Zeke and Earl drop him off outside the emergency room, but it’s not long before they learn Dick didn’t make it – and the audience spends the first hour of the movie wondering exactly how he died as the survivors dig themselves bigger and bigger holes with their ill-conceived lies to cover up the events of the previous night. When the reason for Dick’s fate finally arrives, the movie takes a turn away from its comedic roots and becomes a more disturbing, melancholy exploration of masculinity. Read More »

This fall’s best comedy may be one that’s skipping theaters altogether. Last year Netflix scooped up Christopher Guest‘s Mascots for release, and today it’s revealed the first full-length trailer. The premise is certainly unusual — the film follows a bunch of sports mascots competing for the Golden Fluffy award — but otherwise this looks like a typical Guest movie. Which is to say it’s a mockumentary that looks hilarious in a dry sort of way, full of oblivious oddballs that somehow still come across as strangely lovable.

Over the past few years, Netflix has built up a TV slate to rival any of its competitors’, serving up everything from ground-level superheroes to depressed horse-men and receiving showers of prestigious awards and critical praise in return. The service isn’t quite there yet with its original movie offerings, but a quick glance at their upcoming calendar suggests that could very well change in the near future. One of their most promising upcoming releases? Mascots, the new comedy from Best in Show and A Mighty Wind director Christopher Guest.

Netflix first announced its deal to acquire Mascots almost exactly one year ago, in August 2015. Today the very first teaser trailer has arrived, bearing a fall 2016 release date. Check out the Mascots teaser, and pore over the first Mascots poster, after the jump. Read More »

Just a few hours after the Dear White People trailer landed online, The Good Lie trailer has arrived to give us a perfect example of the kind of film Dear White People is mocking.

Directed by Philippe Falardeau (Monsieur Lazhar), the fact-based drama stars Reese Witherspoon as an American woman who opens her heart to three helpless Sudanese refugees (played by Arnold Oceng, Ger Duany, and Emmanuel Jal). As she forges an unlikely friendship with these men, she learns some Very Important Life Lessons in the process.

To be totally fair, I haven’t actually seen the movie yet so there’s always a chance this will turn out to be slightly more nuanced than your typical white savior saga. But considering it’s advertised as being “by the executive producer of The Blind Side,” I’m not super optimistic. Watch The Good Lie trailer after the jump.

It was announced earlier this week that Ben Affleck and longtime pal Matt Damon would reunite for a biopic about Whitey Bulger, with Casey Affleck set to co-star. We now have a more information about the younger Affleck’s part. He’ll be playing Bill Bugler, little brother of Whitey Bugler (Damon’s role). Unlike notorious gangster Whitey, Billy was an upstanding member of society — Korean war vet, lawyer, politician, and educator. He lost his post as the president of the University of Massachusetts in 2003 when he was found to have spoken with his fugitive brother in secret.

In addition to starring, Damon will also script the film; Affleck the Elder will direct and co-star. It’s unclear when exactly the picture will get off the ground, as both brothers and Damon have plenty of other projects on their plates. But they’ll have to get moving if they want to beat the two other Whitey Bulger movies in the works — there’s one in development with producer Graham King, who produced The Departed, and another titled Black Mass, which was scripted by Russell Gerwitz. [Showbiz 411 via The Playlist]

After the jump, new jobs for Dylan McDermott, Rufus Sewell, Gabriel Byrne, and Toby Stephens.

2012 isn’t shaping up to be quite the Year of Sudeikis that 2011 was, but the Saturday Night Live star seems to be looking forward to another busy year. In addition to his ongoing gigs on SNL and Fox’s The Cleveland Show, Jason Sudeikis is also slated to guest star in the third season of HBO’s Eastbound & Down, and he’s now landed a role in Jay Roach‘s political satire Dog Fight.

Formerly titled Southern Rivals, the comedy centers around two politicians (Will Ferrell and Zach Galifianakis) running against each other in a congressional district race in South Carolina. Katherine LaNasa and Sarah Baker will also co-star, as Ferrell and Galifianakis’ respective wives. Filming will begin next month in New Orleans for an August 2012 opening. [The Hollywood Reporter]

After the jump, John Cusack is a black-ops agent, Michelle Monaghan is a hardened war vet, and Lily Collins is that girl you hated in high school.

John Cusack and Johnny Knoxville are set to star in Carnaval, a comedy directed by Josh Stern. Cusack will play a sports scout who tavels to Rio de Janeiro during Carnaval in order to sign a soccer star, while Knoxville has been cast as Cusack’s musician best friend who tags along. Cusack’s character needs to bring the player on board so that he can take over his agency, but his plans go awry when Knoxville’s character sleeps with the player’s girlfriend. Carnaval will begin shooting in Rio this January.